Bergen, Norway, has opted to replace Windows and Unix machines with Linux on servers for its schools and city databases and could later put the open-source operating system on desktop machines.

The city chose Linux because it costs less, improves reliability and doesn't lock the government into purchasing one company's products, city Chief Technology Officer Ole-Bjorn Tuftedal said in an interview.

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From Mad Penguin:

The last time we looked at Mozilla Firefox , it was still called Mozilla Firebird and then only in version 0.6. Times have changed. Oh how they've changed. Today, The browser with the identity crisis has a sleek new intekface, modern features, and is blowing the doors off its competition... and this is putting it mildly.

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From Linux Journal:

Desktop publishing is easy, and it also can be fun. With OpenOffice.org you have a rich selection of tools to create high-quality documents for personal or business use.

Desktop publishing (DP for short) differs from word processing. In word processing, you type pages of characters and numbers to create documents for others to read. They might include graphics, such as tables and charts, to illustrate points made in the text, but the goal is to create a written document to convey information.ÙHn DP, you use graphics, along with text, to create a document with more visual appeal. Look at any printed advertising--the graphics in the document often are more important than the written word.

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Following up on the announcement on /., there was this posted to the Cooker Mailing List:

Before everybody starts screaming (again) :

Ximian has just released Ximian Connector (to connect Evolution on Exchange 2000 servers) in GPL.

I've packaged the 1.4 version for Mdk 10.0 (I've just uploaded the package on Mandrakeclub, I don't know if it works nor where it will appear) and I'm working on the 1.5 version for cooker but this version is missing some files, so I'm waiting for Evolution hackers to add the missing files.. Don't worry, I'll package it..

"GNU/Linux vendors Debian, Mandrake, Red Hat, and SUSE have joined together to give a common statement about the Forrester report entitled "Is Linux more Secure than Windows?". Despite the report's claim to incorporate a qualitative assessment of vendor reactions to serious vulnerabilities, it treats all vulnerabilities as equal, regardless of their risk to users. As a result, the conclusions drawn by Forrester have extremely limited real-world value for customers assessing the practical issue of how quickly serious vulnerabilities get fixed."

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" Solicitor Dr. Ben Kremer and his firm, Freehills in Australia, have graciously given Groklaw permission to reproduce his recent article, "Open Source Software: What Is It and How Does It Work?" originally published in their newsletter and available on the Internet here. I asked for permission because I find it to be one of the clearest, most understandable articles I've come across yet on the GPL, what it is legally (contract or license), and how it works, and I thought it was important to present it to as wide an audience as possible and to have it in Groklaw's searchable collection. Thank you, Dr. Kremer and Freehills."

Read the full thing at Groklaw

Mandrakesoft announces the immediate availability of the "Server Essentials Handbook," a comprehensive 360 page guide that contains essential information about the use of Mandrakelinux as a server. The handbook focuses on Mandrakelinux 9.2, but the enclosed information applies to all recent versions of Mandrakelinux.

Perfect for all Linux users who need quality reference material on important server topics, the "Server Essentials Handbook" is available now at Mandrakestore.com.

From Linux.com:

With Linux appearing more frequently in the press and on TV, people are becoming more curious about it. They are still reluctant to leave their comfortable Windows world, but they are curious. Enter LiveCD Linux -- a CD with a full Linux operating system that runs completely from the CD without the need to install anything on the hard drive. Taking ten people who never used Linux before and who have only basic computer skills, I set out to run several LiveCDs through some informal tests.

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From Linux Journal:

Sisler High school is the largest high school in Manitoba, with approximately 1,600 students and 120 staff members on campus. The school offers many computer courses at different levels, ranging from computer programming and office skills to vocational subjects, such as trouble-shooting personal computers, networking and advanced operating systems. In 2002, due to a letter from CAAST (Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft), the school spent more than $50,000 to make sure we had all the necessary licenses for our software.

I have been using and teaching Linux on both the high school and university levels since the mid 1990s. I have set up a variety of Linux servers for a variety of purposes: Web server, shell accounts, Java/C++ programming, routers, as well as HA (high availability) clusters and Beowulf clusters.

The updates to PHP versions 5.3.12 and 5.4.2 released on Thursday do not fully resolve the vulnerability that was accidentally disclosed on Reddit, according to the discoverer of the flaw. The bug in the way CGI and PHP interact with each other leads to a situation where attackers can execute code on affected servers. The issue remained undiscovered for eight years.

Read the full thing at http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/PHP-patch-quick-but-inadequate-1568454.html